MANAMA: Gert Rieder has replaced Peter Kaliaropoulos as the new chief executive officer of Batelco. Kaliaropoulos has been appointed as the Group CEO of the company. This was announced here yesterday by the Batelco’s Chairman Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa. He also reported a strong start to 2009 with a net profit of $69.8 million. Gross revenues grew by 7 percent to $222 million, he said.
Speaking at the company’s Board meeting at Batelco’s Hamala Headquarters, Shaikh Hamad said that growth is the key to Batelco’s future success and profitability. “We remain focused on delivering better service and value to our customers in Bahrain within the regulatory constraints we face. We continue to invest in Bahrain’s infrastructure for our customers and are also investing in new technology and growing our operations across the Middle East,” he said.
Kaliaropoulos said that Batelco continued to deliver profitable growth in first quarter, reflecting the company’s ongoing focus on delivering better value to customers. “Batelco continued to deliver strong revenue growth whilst managing its costs, ending the quarter with 12 percent EBITDA growth and 19 percent growth in its operating profit compared to the same period in 2008. We delivered 42.7 percent EBITDA margin and our operating profit margin is 30.3 percent at the end of Q1 2009. Our net debt is effectively zero,” said Kaliaropoulos
Shaikh Hamad noted that Batelco continues to be one of the leading employers of Bahrainis in the Kingdom with 92 percent of its 1,594 workforce being Bahraini nationals.
